A journey into the unknown, an adventure of a lifetime, or maybe just some sightseeing. Nothing beats the allure of travel. A world both bigger and smaller than we could have imagined opens up as we take flight beyond our borders. Past the wonder and excitement, though, international travel exposes us to new risks and dangers as well.
What are the deadliest activities for travelers? What are the risks of international travel? How can we stay safe while traveling abroad?
WHAT CAUSES THE MOST DEATHS WHILE TRAVELING INTERNATIONALLY?
The United States keeps a record of American citizen’s deaths that occur internationally. The top five known causes of death internationally are vehicle accidents, homicide, suicide, drowning, and air accidents. Nearly 14% of travel deaths have an unknown cause.
Vehicle accidents are the most common cause of death while traveling abroad.
Vehicle accidents are by far the most common cause of death for Americans traveling abroad.
The high rate of motor vehicle accident deaths is one of the reasons travel organizations or mission trip leaders will stress vehicle safety so much!
If we could eliminate deaths from vehicle accidents, the number of travel deaths would be reduced by 25%. Now obviously we can’t prevent every accident, but you can lower your risks. We’ll cover that soon.
Transportation makes up 33% of international travel deaths
Transportation accounts for nearly 33% of all international US citizen tourist deaths.
| Cause | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle | 2972 | 63.3% |
| Motorcycle | 661 | 14.1% |
| Airplane | 418 | 8.9% |
| Pedestrian | 293 | 6.2% |
| Bus | 164 | 3.5% |
| Boating | 145 | 3.1% |
| Train | 41 | 0.9% |
| Total | 4694 | 100.0% |
Vehicle accidents are the most common, and motorcycle deaths are fairly high as well. We can probably safely assume tourists ride motorcycles far less than they ride in typical vehicles. The weighted average for deaths while riding a motorcycle is likely a much higher percentage.
What are the most common deadly risks while traveling?
| Top five causes of death abroad | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle accident | 3796 | 26.69% |
| Homicide | 2666 | 18.75% |
| Suicide | 2033 | 14.30% |
| Unknown | 1971 | 13.86% |
| Drowning | 1900 | 13.36% |
| All Other | 1855 | 13.04% |
| Total | 14221 | 100.00% |
Homicide is the second leading cause of death for tourists closely followed by suicide, and drowning. Many causes are unknown.
Is international travel safe?
Measuring the safety of something comes down to a lot of factors. The only question we’re really answering is “Did you die?”. We don’t have the data on injuries or hospitalizations while traveling.
If you determine risk by not dying then yes international travel is pretty safe. We’ll explain below.
How many U.S. travelers die while traveling abroad each year?
On average, 790 Americans die while traveling abroad each year. Or 813 if we excluded 2020 when travel was severely restricted because of the pandemic.
790 seems concerning, but out of how many?
Is travel worth the risk?
The exact number of Americans traveling anywhere internationally is difficult to pinpoint. That said, over the last couple of decades, international travel has ranged from about 50 million to 100 million trips a year.
In 2019, there were nearly 100 million international trips taken by Americans. Out of those 100 million trips, there were only 650 deaths.
2017 through 2019 were also some of the safest travel years since 2003. Deaths per million were nearly half of what they were in the early 2000s.
Averaging out the number of Americans that traveled with the number of deaths, we get an average risk of 0.0012% chance of dying while taking an international trip.
Now it’s hard to not make this an apples to oranges situation, but hey, they’re both round and fruits so here we go…
- You’re 208 times less likely to die on an international trip than a 40-year-old male is likely to die in a year.
- You’re more likely to flip a coin on heads 16 times in a row on the first try than to die while traveling abroad.
- In 2019, your odds of being audited by the IRS were 0.45%, making that 375 times more likely too. There’s no telling how much higher that will be this year.
Okay, so overall international travel can be pretty safe then, right?
But what activities should I watch out for?
Reducing risks while traveling
Over 50% of travel deaths come from just three categories: vehicle accidents, suicide, and drowning. The chance of each of these occurring can be greatly reduced.
Transportation safety
Making good transportation choices can significantly reduce your risks.
Here are some tips:
- Wear your seatbelt
- Skip unsafe or overloaded transportation options
- Know the rules of the road for that country
- Don’t ride a motorcycle
- Travel in pairs
- Download an offline map for the area
Suicide prevention
Find a support systems that works for you. Use resources available here before traveling like the suicide hotline (988).
Make plans to look forward to when you return home.
Volunteering and serving others is a great way to lift your spirits. Seven ways to save a life
Keep an eye on your friends and family while you travel. Watch out for the signs and symptoms of suicide.
Talking about:
- Wanting to die
- Great guilt or shame
- Being a burden to others
Feeling:
- Empty, hopeless, trapped, or having no reason to live
- Extremely sad, more anxious, agitated, or full of rage
- Unbearable emotional or physical pain
Changing behavior, such as:
- Making a plan or researching ways to die
- Withdrawing from friends, saying goodbye, giving away important items, or making a will
- Taking dangerous risks such as driving extremely fast
- Displaying extreme mood swings
- Eating or sleeping more or less
- Using drugs or alcohol more often
NIH Suicide warning signs
988 and the online chat line do not work internationally. You may be able to connect with the online chat using a VPN.
To search for helplines in other countries use https://findahelpline.com/
Drowning
Knowing how to swim is a great first step here, obviously.
- Use a life jacket
- Do not drink alcohol while swimming or boating
- Do not allow the captain of a boat to drink
- Be aware of local weather for flooding
- Turn around, don’t drown
- Swim in an area with a lifeguard on duty
In the United States, 70% of adults and adolescent water recreation deaths involve alcohol.
Flooding is the leading cause of death from natural disasters. Traveling does not make you impervious to severe weather. Make sure you keep an eye out for dangerous storms.
Is travel worth the risks?
Ask anyone that travels and I’m sure they will tell you it is most definitely worth the risk.
Every day, we accept a level of risk.
Exercise is a risk, laying on the couch all day is a risk, vacationing is a risk, fighting Ebola is a risk.
Every day risks come and go.
It’s up to us to accept the risks worth taking while mitigating the risks we can while we travel.
As we journey around the world, adventure awaits.
Our dreams, our journey, our life’s work will end one day. We can look back with regret at the adventures not taken, the hope not shared, and the unknown roads not explored. Or, we can get up, chase our dreams, and journey to the ends of the earth, accepting the risks and rewards of each new destination.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Bilbo by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Join our email to hear about new resources to help you stay on top of severe weather outbreaks
- How to Shelter in Place During a Nuclear Event
- How to sleep in your car overnight
- How to prepare for power outages
- Preparing for Severe Weather
- How to Help Someone Who is on Fire
- How To Get Help When 9-1-1 Is Down
- Does a Solar Eclipse Really Warrant a State of Emergency?
- The Coming Digital Apocalypse?
- Disaster Survival: Do These 3 Things Within 60 Seconds
- 5 Disaster Relief Tips for a Major Earthquake Response
- Can We Shoot the Chinese Balloon Down?
- Incident Management Team: Tips for a Successful Deployment
- TC001 Best New Thermal Camera? Review for TOPDON TCView
- 5 Ways To Stop Overpaying For Healthcare
- Preparing Your Pets for Disaster
- Is International Travel Safe? How To Reduce Your Risks While Traveling Abroad